Tiger has won three tournaments n 2012. How much does winning three small events really mean for a guy like Tiger? For any other golfers it means a lot but In the grand scheme of his career, they don't really mean much. After each of his first two wins this year, Woods followed with disappointing finishes at majors. That could very well happen again with the British Open quickly approaching. If it does, will we go back to the same talk about Tiger not being back again?

Is it the time for everyone to just acknowledge that Tiger is a strong golfer that is capable of winning any event but the dominant Tiger of the early 2000s is gone for good ??? Do ou agree to that??

Woods will be back in a year max. He needs to get his head right in the final round during majors. Once he starts well nowadays, he tends to build on that over subsequent rounds until the final day. Then anxiety catches up with him and his putting goes to hell. Given his outstanding work ethic and manic desire to succeed, I won't be surprised if he continues to get stronger this year and then start winning majors again in 2013.

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"And do not curse those who call on other than GOD, lest they blaspheme and curse GOD, out of ignorance. We have adorned the works of every group in their eyes. Ultimately, they return to their Lord, then He informs them of everything they had done." (Qur'an 6:108)

It's been awhile since my last column, so I thought it would be a good time to check in before the British Open next week. I recently won my third tournament of the year at the AT&T National, and feel good about my game heading across the pond to compete at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in England.

I have to give a shout-out to my former Stanford teammate Notah Begay III. We just talked about putting philosophy; how I used to putt and what I used to do. He remembers how I used to putt in college, and I liked some of his thoughts and some of the things he was referring to. I started thinking about it, and I started doing it, and I started putting well again.

Now, I'm focused on the British Open. This will be my third visit to Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where I tied for 22nd as an amateur in 1996 and tied for 25th in 2001. I like the golf course, but I know they have made some changes since we played there in '01. I think they lengthened a few holes, so it will play different. Plus in '01, it was pretty dry and firm. They've had a very wet summer, as we saw at Wimbledon, and the golf course is pretty soft.

Weather plays such a huge role in the tournament. It will be interesting to see how the course is set up. It's different, because we're not really on the water -- we're slightly inland. That train track that runs right along the golf course gets a lot of use that week. But there have been some great matches there.

The time change is easy because I play all over the world. It's getting used to the conditions that week. Each British Open has its own little quirks.

For instance, Hoylake was burnt out; some years at St. Andrews, the wind blew hard; this year, it will be a little bit softer than it normally plays. But we don't know if it's going to rain or blow, so that adds different challenges as the week develops. I'll bring my 5-wood and 2-iron, and decide which club to carry once I get there and feel out the conditions.

You can have so many different weather conditions. You just don't know. That's one of the unique things about the British Open and why it's my favorite major championship. It's the only tournament besides the sandbelt courses in Australia that we can actually use the ground as a friend and bounce the ball into the greens. Modern golf is all up in the air.

I want to offer my congratulations to Roger Federer for winning Wimbledon. We've been friends for a long time and he played fantastic tennis in the finals against Andy Murray.

I also want to offer my condolences to the wife and family of Peter Sauer. He played basketball when I attended Stanford and had a great career, captaining the Cardinal to the Final Four in 1998. Peter died last Sunday night during a pickup basketball game in White Plains, N.Y., at the age of 35, which is way too young. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and look forward to catching up after the British Open.

Tiger Woods has been paired with Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia for the first two rounds of the British Open, scheduled 19-22 July. Tiger predicted to be amongst top five, but people at large are still cautious to predict a win for Tiger. Let's hope he wins. That will be great for the game.

During Tiger's Heyday there was one guy I felt bad for, not Vijay, not Duval, not Sergio and Certainly not Phil

It was the Big E, all those 2nd place finishes ... wrong place wrong time.

Congrats to Ernie, he can tell Augusta National to Shove it next year and skip it

__________________12.6 Syed Rasel to Sangakkara, OUT: What a delivery, completely fooled Sangakkara, first five delivery were the outswingers and now, this one comes in sharply, Sangakkara tries to left it and ball hits the off stump, top class bowling!

Originally Posted by cricman
During Tiger's Heyday there was one guy I felt bad for, not Vijay, not Duval, not Sergio and Certainly not Phil

It was the Big E, all those 2nd place finishes ... wrong place wrong time.

Congrats to Ernie, he can tell Augusta National to Shove it next year and skip it

Ernie is one of my favorite too. Finest golfer SA. Has produced.

Tiger disappointed this time as well. I really don't understand how such a short absence can affect his game so much, that he can't regain it in in a year. If this thing will affect him mentally so much, he should have known it and wouldn't have got involved in it.